Hyderabad:Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's daughter and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC Kavitha Kalvauntla revealed that she would appear before the Enforcement Directorate on March 11 in connection with a summon served on her over a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy case.
Late on Wednesday night, Kavitha posted this information on her official Twitter handle. "I will be appearing before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi on March 11, 2023," the tweet read, quoting her original statement where she was seeking legal opinions over the summons while also assuring full cooperation to the agency.
Kavitha has already moved to the national capital on Wednesday evening for her proposed protest urging the Centre to table the Women's Reservation Bill amid summons from the ED which sought her to be present before the agency on March 9.
Sources said the MLC has been summoned by the ED so that they can confront her with a Hyderabad businessman's statements. The Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai whom the agency allege to be the frontman of the "south group" was arrested on Monday. It is said the agency will record her statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during this probe.
Pillai is at present in the ED's custody and will be again produced before the Court on March 13. The agency had said that Pillai was representing the south group which was part of the liquor manufacturing group having links to many. The probe will help the agency establish the role of Kavitha, if any, in the alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise scam.
The south group comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole Lok Sabha seat), and Kavitha, among others, according to the agency. It alleged that Pillai represented the benami investments of Kavitha who has been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with this case earlier.
As a law-abiding citizen, I will fully cooperate with the investigation agencies. However, due to the Dharna and prefixed appointments, I'll seek legal opinions on the date of attending it, the BRS leader said earlier in the day. She added that she has a proposed dharna in Delhi on March 10 in support of the Women's Reservation Bill.
She termed the summons from the ED as "tactics of intimidation" and it was sent in the backdrop of the national fight of her father and CM K Chandrashekar Rao, and the BRS. She added that such tricks would not deter them.
